9/16/2015

MasteringPhysics:Ch21HW

DipoleMotioninaUniformField
Consideranelectricdipolelocatedinaregionwithanelectric
fieldofmagnitudeE pointinginthepositiveydirection.The
positiveandnegativeendsofthedipolehavecharges+ q
and q ,respectively,andthetwochargesareadistanceD
apart.ThedipolehasmomentofinertiaI aboutitscenterof
mass.Thedipoleisreleasedfromangle = 0 ,anditis
allowedtorotatefreely.

PartA
Whatismax ,themagnitudeofthedipole'sangularvelocitywhenitispointingalongtheyaxis?
Expressyouranswerintermsofquantitiesgivenintheproblemintroduction.

Hint1.Howtoapproachtheproblem
Becausethereisnodissipation(friction,airresistance,etc.),youcansolvethisproblemusingconservation
ofenergy.Whenthedipoleisreleasedfromrest,ithaspotentialenergybutnokineticenergy.Whenthe
dipoleisalignedwiththeyaxis,itisrotating,andthereforehasbothkineticandpotentialenergy.Thesum
ofpotentialandkineticenergywillremainconstant.

Hint2.Findthepotentialenergy
Findthedipole'spotentialenergyU () duetoitsinteractionwiththeelectricfieldasafunctionoftheangle
thatthedipole'spositiveendmakeswiththepositiveyaxis.Definethepotentialenergytobezerowhen
thedipoleisorientedperpendiculartothefield:U (/2) = 0 .
ExpressyouranswerintermsofE ,q ,D,and .

Hint1.Theformulaforthepotentialenergyofadipole
ThegeneralformulaforthepotentialenergyofanelectricdipolewithdipolemomentP inthe
presenceofauniformelectricfieldEisU

= P E

Hint2.Thedipolemoment
ThedipolemomentoftheelectricdipoleP ,whenitmakesanangle withthepositiveyaxiscan
bewrittenas
Typesettingmath:52%

^
^
P = qD(sin i + cos j )

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MasteringPhysics:Ch21HW

ANSWER:
U ()

EqDcos()

Hint3.Findthetotalenergyatthemomentofrelease
FindEtotal ,thetotalenergy(kineticpluspotential)atthemomentthedipoleisreleasedfromrestatangle
0 withrespecttotheyaxis.Usetheconventionthatthepotentialenergyiszerowhenthedipoleis
orientedperpendiculartothefield:U (/2) = 0 .
ExpressyouranswerintermsofsomeorallofthevariablesE ,q ,D,and 0 .
ANSWER:
Etotal

EqDcos( 0 )

Hint4.Findthetotalenergywhen = 0
FindanexpressionforEtotal ,thetotalenergy(kineticpluspotential)atthemomentwhenthedipoleis
alignedwiththeyaxis.Usetheconventionthatthepotentialenergyiszerowhenthedipoleisoriented
perpendiculartothefield:U (/2) = 0 .
Expressyouranswerintermsofquantitiesgivenintheproblemintroductionandmax .

Hint1.Whatiskineticenergyasafunctionofangularvelocity?
WhatisthekineticenergyK ofabodyrotatingwithangularvelocityaroundanaxisaboutwhich
themomentofinertiaisI ?
ANSWER:
K

ANSWER:
Etotal

EqD +

1
2

I max

ANSWER:

max

2
I

qED(1 cos(0 ))

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Correct
Thusmax increaseswithincreasing 0 ,asyouwouldexpect.Aneasierwaytoseethisistousethe
trigonometricidentity
1 cos = 2 sin

2
2

towritemax as\large{2\sin{\frac{\theta_0}{2}}\sqrt{\frac{qED}{I}}}.

PartB
If\texttip{\theta_{\rm0}}{theta_0}issmall,thedipolewillexhibitsimpleharmonicmotionafteritisreleased.What
istheperiod\texttip{T}{T}ofthedipole'soscillationsinthiscase?
Expressyouranswerintermsof\texttip{\pi}{pi}andquantitiesgivenintheproblemintroduction.

Hint1.Howtoapproachtheproblem
Theequationofmotionforasimpleharmonicoscillatorcanalwaysbewritteninthestandardform
\large{\frac{d^2x}{dt^2}=\omega^2x}.Tosolvethisproblem,youneedtowritetheequationofmotionforthe
dipoleinthestandardformwith\texttip{x}{x}replacedbytheangularvariable\texttip{\theta}{theta}.Thiswill
allowyoutoreadofftheexpressionfor\texttip{\omega}{omega},whichhasasimplerelationshiptothe
periodofoscillation.(Note:Here,thevariable\texttip{\omega}{omega}doesnotrepresenttheangular
velocityofthedipolerather,itdenotesthefrequencyofthedipole'soscillation.)Startwiththeangular
analogueofNewton'ssecondlaw:\tau=I\alpha.Recallthat\texttip{\alpha}{alpha},theangularacceleration,
isequaltothesecondderivativeof\texttip{\theta}{theta},justaslinearaccelerationisequaltothesecond
derivativeofposition.

Hint2.Computethetorque
Whatisthemagnitudeofthetorque\texttip{\tau\left(\theta\right)}{tau(theta)}thattheelectricfieldexerts
aboutthecenterofmassofthedipolewhenthedipoleisorientedatanangle\texttip{\theta}{theta}with
respecttotheelectricfield?
Expressthemagnitudeofthetorqueintermsofquantitiesgivenintheproblemintroductionand
\texttip{\theta}{theta}.

Hint1.Formulafortorqueonadipole
Thetorqueonadipolewithdipolemoment\texttip{\vec{P}}{P_vec}inanelectricfield\texttip{\vec{E}}
{E_vec}isgivenby\tau=\vec{P}\times\vec{E}.Alternatively,thetorquecanberelatedtothe
potentialenergy\texttip{U\left(\theta\right)}{U(theta)}by\large{\tau=\frac{dU}{d\theta}}.

Hint2.Thedipolemoment
Whenitmakesanangle\texttip{\theta}{theta}withthepositiveyaxis,thedipolemomentofthe
electricdipole\texttip{\vec{P}}{P_vec}canbewrittenas
\vec{P}=qD\left(\sin{\theta}\\hat{i}+\cos{\theta}\\hat{j}\right).
ANSWER:

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\texttip{\tau\left(\theta\right)}{tau(theta)}= qED{\sin}\left({\theta}\right)

Hint3.Thesmallangleapproximation
Because\texttip{\theta_{\rm0}}{theta_0}issmall,youcanapplythesmallangleapproximationtothe
expression\tau(\theta)=qED\sin(\theta)fortorque,andtakethetorquetobe\tau(\theta)=qED\theta.
Uptothispointwehavebeeninterestedonlyinthemagnitudeofthetorque.Nowlet'sthinkaboutthe
direction.Afterall,torqueisavectorquantity.Forasystemtooscillate,thetorquemustbearestoring
torquethatis,thetorque\texttip{\vec{\tau}}{tau_vec}andthe(small)angulardisplacement
\texttip{\vec{\theta}}{theta_vec}mustbeinoppositedirections.(Recallthatsmallangulardisplacements
canbetreatedasvectors,sincetheyobeyvectoraddition,whilelargeanglesdonot.)Ifyoudidthevector
algebracarefully,youwouldfindthatthecorrectvectorequationis
\vec{\tau}\left(\theta\right)=qED\vec{\theta}.
Forfuturepurposeswewillwritethisas\tau(\theta)=qED\theta,keepinginmindthat\texttip{\tau}{tau}
nowrepresentsthecomponentof\texttip{\vec{\tau}}{tau_vec}inthe\texttip{\hat{\theta}}{theta_unit}
direction,ratherthanthemagnitudeof\texttip{\vec{\tau}}{tau_vec}.

Hint4.Findtheoscillationfrequency
Puttingtogetherwhatyouhavesofaryields
\large{I\alpha=I\frac{d^2\theta}{dt^2}=qED\theta}.
Comparethistothestandardform\large{\frac{d^2x}{dt^2}=\omega^2x}forasimpleharmonicoscillatorto
obtaintheoscillationfrequency\texttip{\omega}{omega}forthemotionofthedipole.
Expressyouranswerintermsofquantitiesgivenintheproblemintroduction.
ANSWER:
\texttip{\omega}{omega}= \large{\sqrt{\frac{qED}{I}}}

Hint5.Therelationshipbetween(angular)oscillationfrequencyandperiod
Therelationshipbetween\texttip{\omega}{omega},theangularoscillationfrequencyofthedipole,andthe
periodofoscillation\texttip{T}{T}isgivenby
\large{\omega=\frac{2\pi}{T}}.
ANSWER:
\texttip{T}{T}= \large{2{\pi}\sqrt{\frac{I}{qED}}}

Correct

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